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BNJOMAKR - Posted - 02/25/2024: 13:14:16
This banjo is made from an empty cigar box. The neck is made using maple wood from the arms of a discarded recliner chair, with some walnut used for the center stripe. The finger board and peghead wood is ziricote. The Inlays were sawn from mother of pearl using a jeweler's saw. The sound hole grill is made from a piece of perforated stainless fan guard from a piece of discarded equipment. The sound pick-up was made from a piezo disc saved from the ringer of a discarded telephone and is wired to a output jack scrounged from a discarded piece of audio equipment. I built the practice amplifier from the guts of a "FIRST ACT" guitar amplifier that I bought off eBay. The speaker grill is a fan guard from a computer cooling fan. This was all mounted inside another empty cigar box.
Silver_Falls - Posted - 02/25/2024: 13:51:29
Cool! What does it sound like?
BNJOMAKR - Posted - 02/25/2024: 15:27:46
Here's a video
jdeluke137 - Posted - 02/25/2024: 18:02:00
That was terrific! Sounds great and your picking was outstanding!
Culloden - Posted - 02/26/2024: 06:01:59
Marvin, your work never ceases to amaze me. And the way you repurpose items to build with is absolute genius.
fotoguzzi - Posted - 02/26/2024: 19:56:53
Cool. Nice inlay work..I see you use a banjo bridge, is the box top very thin to get that great sound? Any advise on finding the perfect box ?
Do you use a dowel stick through the box?
BNJOMAKR - Posted - 02/27/2024: 03:41:23
quote:
Originally posted by fotoguzzi
Cool. Nice inlay work..I see you use a banjo bridge, is the box top very thin to get that great sound? Any advise on finding the perfect box ?
Do you use a dowel stick through the box?
I have used different boxes to build them. Some are "cardboard" which are actually hardboard, and some "wood" which are actually plywood. I haven't heard any appreciable difference in sound of either of them. The neck is a continuous piece of wood that runs all the way thru the box. Some I have built in the past actually protrude outside the bottom of the box and the strings attached there. On this particular one, the neck ends at the bottom end of the inside of the box and a screw run thru the box into the end of the neck. The neck is glued to the inside top of the box. I also glue the box together when it is completed. I found that the sound is better that way. If you go to my YouTube channel, there are videos of many of the ones that I have built and you can compare sound. Just search for "Marvin Walker banjo" .
banjodobro56 - Posted - 02/27/2024: 09:39:17
I have never seen a fancier neck attached to a cigar box! Excellent!
BanjoLink - Posted - 02/27/2024: 09:50:25
Outstanding ..... the banjo and performance!
